Union Market DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will say something unpopular but very honest. We lived in one of these neighborhoods briefly, and had not realized until we moved back to a very central WTOP location just how much low grade stress came with living in these neighborhoods. You are expected to embrace “city living” including to be aware and street smart (and for anyone who says that’s not true just look up the recent happenings in these neighborhoods). It’s not even the overt drug trade or a dodgy guy in the alley or a shooting or a knifing or rats or mosquitos or bulletproof glass at the local bodega or trash by the metro, it’s just a low grade siege mentality where you’re expected to have your “wits about you”. The relative feeling of equally “city living” in a place where you don’t have to look over your shoulder is just incomparable and hard to describe until you’ve felt it. I didn’t realize we and the kids were carrying this low grade subconscious stress until we moved and its absence was a huge relief. I would not live like that again.

NP - you are cute, PP. You really think you can let your guard down WOTP? Enjoy your naïveté and leave your doors unlocked and your trash cans open.

What on earth does this mean? Are you suggesting that someone is going to steal my trash? And that I should be concerned about it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not family friendly. It's well known as a neighborhood among the younger set where you move if you're single and want to "clap some cheeks" after a night out having cocktails / wine / whatever.

What does that mean?

It’s like sex but you face away from each other and bump butts. It’s a Covid thing.

Not what I was expecting to learn on this board!

Union Market/NOMA could be fun with kids until the school issues arise.

School issues in NOMA/Union Market are not much different than a lot of neighborhoods along H Street and on Capitol Hill. Not great IB options but quite a few OOB options nearby plus a lot of charters within short commutes. A nice thing about Union Market area is that you are walking distance to Two Rivers, JO Wilson, Ludlow Taylor, and CHML, but just a short drive to Langley, ITDS, and a lot of the Brookland charters. In some ways Union Market is better situated for schools than much of CH because of access to charters in Brookland/Edgwood.

Walking distance to a school doesn't mean your kid gets in...

It would not be hard to get a spot at JO Wilson from Union Market and it's incredibly close. Also about to get a huge renovation so if you were moving there now with plans to enroll in a few years, you'd be golden. Ludlow-Taylor is also walking distance and while you won't get in for PK most likely, there are often spots there in K or 1st grade. The charters are a bit of a crapshoot, however with both L-T and JO Wilson improving in recent years, it's become easier and easier to get into Two Rivers because more families are choosing to attend their IB school instead.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will say something unpopular but very honest. We lived in one of these neighborhoods briefly, and had not realized until we moved back to a very central WTOP location just how much low grade stress came with living in these neighborhoods. You are expected to embrace “city living” including to be aware and street smart (and for anyone who says that’s not true just look up the recent happenings in these neighborhoods). It’s not even the overt drug trade or a dodgy guy in the alley or a shooting or a knifing or rats or mosquitos or bulletproof glass at the local bodega or trash by the metro, it’s just a low grade siege mentality where you’re expected to have your “wits about you”. The relative feeling of equally “city living” in a place where you don’t have to look over your shoulder is just incomparable and hard to describe until you’ve felt it. I didn’t realize we and the kids were carrying this low grade subconscious stress until we moved and its absence was a huge relief. I would not live like that again.

NP - you are cute, PP. You really think you can let your guard down WOTP? Enjoy your naïveté and leave your doors unlocked and your trash cans open.

What on earth does this mean? Are you suggesting that someone is going to steal my trash? And that I should be concerned about it?

Rats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Union Market and Eastern Market are similar?

No. Eastern Market is about 1.3 miles away on Capitol Hill. It's one of the most family friendly neighborhoods in the city, but kinda pricey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sorry, what does this have to do with Union Market?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sorry, what does this have to do with Union Market?

+1, both of these tweets are about Petworth.

We used to live in Petworth and moved to the H Street area (not Union Market but same general vicinity) and while there is definitely still violence here, I think Petworth has unique problems. When we lived there, there were several "problem houses" where drug activity and violence often occurred and spilled over into the rest of the neighborhood. There was one on my block, which was otherwise filled with either older retirees or young families, and it was such a strain on the neighborhood. I saw some terrible things happen outside that house and eventually we gave up on the idea that it would be addressed and moved. We still experience some crime here but it's not the same at all and I don't have that same low level dread and fear that I used to.

Was actually just talking to one of my old neighbors a couple weeks ago who said that it looked like the owners of the problem house might be forced out and the house get a "blighted" designation and sold at auction. If it happens, it will be amazing for everyone else who lives there. I wouldn't assume the violence will disappear, but the difference between having neighbors who are engaged in drug trade/gang activity and just having some of this stuff occasionally spill over in your neighborhood is start, in my experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sorry, what does this have to do with Union Market?

+1, both of these tweets are about Petworth.

We used to live in Petworth and moved to the H Street area (not Union Market but same general vicinity) and while there is definitely still violence here, I think Petworth has unique problems. When we lived there, there were several "problem houses" where drug activity and violence often occurred and spilled over into the rest of the neighborhood. There was one on my block, which was otherwise filled with either older retirees or young families, and it was such a strain on the neighborhood. I saw some terrible things happen outside that house and eventually we gave up on the idea that it would be addressed and moved. We still experience some crime here but it's not the same at all and I don't have that same low level dread and fear that I used to.

Was actually just talking to one of my old neighbors a couple weeks ago who said that it looked like the owners of the problem house might be forced out and the house get a "blighted" designation and sold at auction. If it happens, it will be amazing for everyone else who lives there. I wouldn't assume the violence will disappear, but the difference between having neighbors who are engaged in drug trade/gang activity and just having some of this stuff occasionally spill over in your neighborhood is start, in my experience.

It speaks to the low stress you don’t realize you have living in these types of neighborhoods. It’s real and you don’t even know

Sure UM and EM may be relatively safer than Petworth but they are by no means safe, great schools neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

I can assure you this doesn’t happen in our WTOP central neighborhood. These areas are crime ridden, be honest.

https://www.popville.com/2023/01/developing-shots-fired-reported-at-union-market-around-4pm/

https://wtop.com/dc/2021/12/mother-attacked-in-dcs-eastern-market-speaks-out/

[Anonymous]

As the PP said: “while there is definitely still violence here, ”…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can assure you this doesn’t happen in our WTOP central neighborhood. These areas are crime ridden, be honest.

https://www.popville.com/2023/01/developing-shots-fired-reported-at-union-market-around-4pm/

https://wtop.com/dc/2021/12/mother-attacked-in-dcs-eastern-market-speaks-out/

PP said it well:
We still experience some crime here but it's not the same at all and I don't have that same low level dread and fear that I used to.

I will add:
We don’t experience any. Walking around is without any fear. No package was ever stolen. The neighbors are unfailingly polite and quiet. There are no ATVs, rats, dirt. It’s just a few miles over in DC, many areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sorry, what does this have to do with Union Market?

+1, both of these tweets are about Petworth.

We used to live in Petworth and moved to the H Street area (not Union Market but same general vicinity) and while there is definitely still violence here, I think Petworth has unique problems. When we lived there, there were several "problem houses" where drug activity and violence often occurred and spilled over into the rest of the neighborhood. There was one on my block, which was otherwise filled with either older retirees or young families, and it was such a strain on the neighborhood. I saw some terrible things happen outside that house and eventually we gave up on the idea that it would be addressed and moved. We still experience some crime here but it's not the same at all and I don't have that same low level dread and fear that I used to.

Was actually just talking to one of my old neighbors a couple weeks ago who said that it looked like the owners of the problem house might be forced out and the house get a "blighted" designation and sold at auction. If it happens, it will be amazing for everyone else who lives there. I wouldn't assume the violence will disappear, but the difference between having neighbors who are engaged in drug trade/gang activity and just having some of this stuff occasionally spill over in your neighborhood is start, in my experience.

It speaks to the low stress you don’t realize you have living in these types of neighborhoods. It’s real and you don’t even know

Sure UM and EM may be relatively safer than Petworth but they are by no means safe, great schools neighborhoods.

PP here and I know H Street/Union Market isn't as safe as some other neighborhoods, but we do feel safe generally and are willing to trade some amount of stress from area crime in order to get the amenities of the neighborhood. Our school is fantastic (Ludlow-Taylor). We know we might have to go private for MS/HS and are fine with it -- there's a good chance we'd do that wherever we lived, as I'm not exactly over-impressed with Deal or JR, to be honest.

We have super easy commutes, live in an ultra-walkable neighborhood surrounded by families with similar aged kids, can walk to Nats Park, enjoy the proximity of Union Market and Eastern Market, love that we can be at Union Station in 5 minutes and get to all three area airports without getting in a car. Within a 3 block walk of our house, we have a nice grocery store, two great coffee shops, an indie bookstore we love, and a host of restaurants and bars. We can be at the Smithsonian museum in 10-30 minutes, depending on whether we walk, bike or drive.

It's just bizarre to me that you don't understand that all of that is pretty much impossible to get anywhere else in this area, and that dealing with some crime is not that big of a deal, especially when I personally never feel unsafe. I'd obviously prefer to see less crime, as well as less speeding and pedestrian accidents in the neighborhood. But those are things that guide how I vote for local reps or citywide reps, not reasons to move.

Wherever you live, I guarantee you I would not like it as well as my current neighborhood.

But I do agree Petworth wasn't worth the tradeoff -- the crime was worse and it didn't have nearly as many neighborhood amenities as we have now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sorry, what does this have to do with Union Market?

+1, both of these tweets are about Petworth.

We used to live in Petworth and moved to the H Street area (not Union Market but same general vicinity) and while there is definitely still violence here, I think Petworth has unique problems. When we lived there, there were several "problem houses" where drug activity and violence often occurred and spilled over into the rest of the neighborhood. There was one on my block, which was otherwise filled with either older retirees or young families, and it was such a strain on the neighborhood. I saw some terrible things happen outside that house and eventually we gave up on the idea that it would be addressed and moved. We still experience some crime here but it's not the same at all and I don't have that same low level dread and fear that I used to.

Was actually just talking to one of my old neighbors a couple weeks ago who said that it looked like the owners of the problem house might be forced out and the house get a "blighted" designation and sold at auction. If it happens, it will be amazing for everyone else who lives there. I wouldn't assume the violence will disappear, but the difference between having neighbors who are engaged in drug trade/gang activity and just having some of this stuff occasionally spill over in your neighborhood is start, in my experience.

It speaks to the low stress you don’t realize you have living in these types of neighborhoods. It’s real and you don’t even know

Sure UM and EM may be relatively safer than Petworth but they are by no means safe, great schools neighborhoods.

PP here and I know H Street/Union Market isn't as safe as some other neighborhoods, but we do feel safe generally and are willing to trade some amount of stress from area crime in order to get the amenities of the neighborhood. Our school is fantastic (Ludlow-Taylor). We know we might have to go private for MS/HS and are fine with it -- there's a good chance we'd do that wherever we lived, as I'm not exactly over-impressed with Deal or JR, to be honest.

We have super easy commutes, live in an ultra-walkable neighborhood surrounded by families with similar aged kids, can walk to Nats Park, enjoy the proximity of Union Market and Eastern Market, love that we can be at Union Station in 5 minutes and get to all three area airports without getting in a car. Within a 3 block walk of our house, we have a nice grocery store, two great coffee shops, an indie bookstore we love, and a host of restaurants and bars. We can be at the Smithsonian museum in 10-30 minutes, depending on whether we walk, bike or drive.

It's just bizarre to me that you don't understand that all of that is pretty much impossible to get anywhere else in this area, and that dealing with some crime is not that big of a deal, especially when I personally never feel unsafe. I'd obviously prefer to see less crime, as well as less speeding and pedestrian accidents in the neighborhood. But those are things that guide how I vote for local reps or citywide reps, not reasons to move.

Wherever you live, I guarantee you I would not like it as well as my current neighborhood.

But I do agree Petworth wasn't worth the tradeoff -- the crime was worse and it didn't have nearly as many neighborhood amenities as we have now.

Hey neighbor! See you at Wydown later?

[Anonymous]

I really enjoyed reading the above. I will never forget the hitherto subconscious pressure lifting on my shoulders when I left for a “tony” city neighborhood.

We tried one more time to live downtown and witnessed (heard) at least two fatal shootings and several woundings. With daily antisocial behaviors.

That did it; never again. It’s a falsehood to say it’s all crime inside areas but it’s equally false to say that our neighborhoods aren’t equally walkable with fantastic restaurants coffeehouses and bookstores and even better school all the way through. I think the only difference was price but that got blurred in the recent market.

As they say, but the cheapest house in the most expensive area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really enjoyed reading the above. I will never forget the hitherto subconscious pressure lifting on my shoulders when I left for a “tony” city neighborhood.

We tried one more time to live downtown and witnessed (heard) at least two fatal shootings and several woundings. With daily antisocial behaviors.

That did it; never again. It’s a falsehood to say it’s all crime inside areas but it’s equally false to say that our neighborhoods aren’t equally walkable with fantastic restaurants coffeehouses and bookstores and even better school all the way through. I think the only difference was price but that got blurred in the recent market.

As they say, but the cheapest house in the most expensive area.

The data definitely don't support your assertion:

https://www.walkscore.com/DC/Washington_D.C.

I mean, an upper NW neighborhood may well be walkable enough for your needs, and that's fine. WalkScore may not be a perfect measure either. But you really shouldn't claim things that are so easily disproven.